If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" .. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit.

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me

And lastly, thanks for the kind words

Simply dialling down saturation usually leads to rather flat looking B&W conversions... one popular method in Photoshop is to use a Channel Mixer adjustment layer so you can dial in the amount of luminance taken from each of the RGB channels. The new version (CS3) has an autoconvert to B&W with sliders to allow you to do pretty much the same thing. I'd show you, but I'm at work right now with no photoshop.

I wasnt aware that there was an "auto convert" .. to answer your question, I desaturated it and then played around with the contrast a bit.

Could I possibly PM or post the origanal so you could show me what you mean? or how you would do it? It would be a nice learning experience for me

And lastly, thanks for the kind words

it just takes some practice and TBH, it all comes down to your taste aswell.
photo #1 and #2 are using just the contrast/ brightness scales. one has the foreground too dark, (similar to your original), the other looks very "flat" if you try and brighten it up.

#3 is using levels and curves and r/g/b channels. #4 just adds a bit of warmth for a touch of sepia.